16-24 year olds wary of influencer endorsement says report

According to the Youth Report by Protein – a marketing consultancy – young consumers see today’s influencer landscape as characterised by “monotonous and inauthentic ‘paid-to-post’ mechanisms”.

“When a celebrity or influencer endorses a brand or product on social media, 62% of the youth think the individual doesn’t care about the product – they just want to get paid,” according to Will Rowe, Protein’s CEO.

There is a wide – and growing – gulf between influencer marketing, influencer advertising, influencer relations and celebrity endorsement. If the umbrella discipline of influencer marketing fails to develop best practice it will kill the golden goose.